Modeling of Cooling Rate in Water Quenched Process

Aim: The present study investigated the effect of operating parameters in modeling the cooling rate of water quenched process.
Methodology: A three factor, three levels Box-Behnken design (BBD) of RSM was applied to determine the effects of three independent variables (Time (A), radial distance (B) and immersion speed (C)) on cooling rate. Response surface analysis method was employed to optimize the parameters in the experiment.
Results: Data analysis shows that A, AB, BC, A2 and B2 are the terms which significantly affected the cooling rate at 95% confidence level. The experimental values were very close to the predicted values and were not statistically different at p<0.05. Optimum cooling rate of 4.75ºC/s was obtained when the time, radial distance and immersion speed were 2.50 minutes, 7.91 mm and 0.22 m/s respectively.
Conclusion: The regression model obtained has provided a basis for selecting optimum process parameters for the cooling rate during water quenching process.